LaMarcus Aldridge has been linked with the Los Angeles Lakers in recent days after Gregg Popovich announced the San Antonio Spurs and the players decided to part ways ahead of the trade deadline. That decision set the alarms for the entire association and a series of teams were instantly linked with the big man.
Aldridge was really close to joining the purple and gold when he decided to take his talents to Texas and join the Spurs, who still had Kawhi Leonard with them at that time. He was one of the hottest free agents in 2015 and everybody was looking to add him after his tenure with the Portland Trail Blazers ended.
The Lakers were one of those teams and they even had Kobe Bryant as their top recruiter for LMA. The late Lakers icon tried to lure Aldridge but the player wasn’t feeling Kobe’s words and didn’t like the answers he received from the Hall of Famer. Mike Bresnahan reported that KB24 wanted to see Aldridge working with him the same way Pau Gasol did, trying to bring the Lakers back to life before he retired the next summer.
Kobe spoke for about three minutes in the presentation, said he envisioned LaMarcus Aldridge working with him the same way Pau Gasol did.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) July 1, 2015
Adrian Wojnarowski, then with Yahoo Sports, said that Aldridge didn’t like the fact that the Lakers focused on different things instead of what mattered the most: basketball. That, added to the fact that he didn’t connect with Kobe as desired, made the player rule the Lakers out.
As @Mike_Bresnahan says, Aldridge felt too much of Lakers presentation focused on outside opportunities; wanted clearer, better b-ball focus
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2015
More LMA: He and Kobe didn't quite gel. It's a little vague, but Aldridge apparently didn't quite get answers from Kobe he was seeking.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) July 1, 2015
He was impressed by the Houston Rockets but decided to take his talents to San Antonio, where he created a very good association with Kawhi.
Aldridge was floored in a good way by Houston's analytics, on-court projections in their presentation. Not so with the Lakers.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) July 1, 2015
Six years after that moment, LMA is once again in the market but this time the Lakers could bring him via trade. There are some packages they could offer to the Spurs in order to land the big man but it’s highly unlikely that they give too much for a guy past his prime.
Right now they are focused on basketball and nothing else. LeBron James changed the mentality within the organization and that would be very appealing for Aldridge. However, the Lakers aren’t in a good position to get him, even more knowing they have other options like Andre Drummond and DeMarcus Cousins.
